Applegater Winter 2009 9
EARL’S PEARLS
Elixir vitae found in the Applegate:
Libations, calories, chocolate
and exercise
BY EARL SHOWERMAN, M.D.
Recent articles in the Mail Tribune, New York
and Los Angeles Times and Newsweek have all drawn
attention to the scientific discovery of the likely
cellular mechanism by which imbibing red wine can
prevent heart disease and contribute to longevity.
A group of researchers at Harvard Medical School
have just published their findings in the journal Cell,
detailing how resveratrol, a minor ingredient in red
wine, miraculously works to restore age-damaged
chromosomes. The theory suggests resveratrol
works by activating a protein known as sirtuin,
which repairs damaged DNA. Damaged DNA
causes aging by losing its ability to regulate genes.
As we age, the ability of sirtuins to keep up with the
chromosome breakdown diminishes, so resveratrol,
and by implication red wine, helps us live longer
by promoting sirtuin levels to repair our worn out
genes, like nanoprobes.
Consider sirtuins to be like salvage operators
that pack chromatin around genes that need to be
suppressed. Eventually this suppression fails, and
cellular chaos ensues.
Dr. David Sinclair and his team have
demonstrated how these sirtuins worked to extend
life in experiments on mice with a lymphoma gene.
The team administered extra copies of the gene that
makes sirtuin or fed the mice resveratrol, and found
that these mice outlived the control group by 24 to
46 percent. Sirtuins are involved in maintaining
proper cellular metabolism, including handling fats.
In another report, one of the sirtuins also has been
shown to protect mice on fatty diets from getting
obese in addition to enhancing their endurance
during exercise.
The commercial possibilities for these scientific
developments has not escaped the attention of Dr.
Sinclair, who helped found Sirtis, a company that has
developed a variety of chemicals that activate sirtuin
like resveratrol. The New York Times article noted
that Dr. Sinclair has been taking resveratrol daily for
the past five years, but even he had to admit that it’s
too early to say he’s young for his age.
At a regional medical symposium last fall,
Medford cardiologist Bruce Patterson suggested a
number of mechanisms by which the wine we drink
and the food we eat may directly affect our health.
Scientific observational studies have proven that
consumption of one to two alcoholic drinks per
day is associated with a reduction in cardiovascular
events, including a whopping 30% improvement in
Scientific observational studies have
proven that consumption of one to two
alcoholic drinks per day is
associated with a reduction in
cardiovascular events, including a
whopping 30% improvement in
coronary artery disease in one study.
coronary artery disease in one study. One drink as
infrequently as three times weekly had a measurable
benefit. Dr. Patterson suggested the mechanisms for
this could be manifold including an increase in nitric
oxide production, antioxidant effects, increased HDL
(the ‘good’ cholesterol), and inhibition of clotting.
The evidence, Dr. Patterson cautioned, is not strong
enough to make nondrinkers take up the cup, and
only very modest drinking is recommended.
The other natural substances Patterson found
to be provably heart-healthy were dark chocolate
and red grapefruit and he dispelled any myths
around coffee being a cause of cardiac problems.
Dark chocolate cocoa reduces blood pressure and
improves the function of the cells that line our blood
vessels. Red grapefruit appears to lower cholesterol
and triglyceride levels up to 15%, but it may cause
adverse interactions with prescription medication,
including some cholesterol lowering drugs and blood
pressure medicines.
One additional way of raising sirtuin levels
and extending life, which should be mentioned
here, but which flies in the face of holiday dietary
excesses, is restricting calorie consumption. Mice
that eat 30% less than controls live 30% longer. A
recent study of rhesus monkeys confirms the same
type of results in primates. The December 15 issue
of Newsweek reports on a human study on calorie
restriction by University of Washington researcher
Dr. Luigi Fontana who found subjects on restricted
calorie diets had markedly improved age-related
cardiac function and lowered C-reactive protein
levels, which, when elevated, are closely associated
with heart disease.
Finally, one cannot talk about nutrition,
health, and disease prevention without mentioning
exercise. The minimum aerobic exercise program
usually recommended for otherwise healthy adults is
30 minutes of moderately intense effort most every
day. For individuals interested in losing weight, a
The other natural substances Patterson
found to be provably heart-healthy were
dark chocolate and red grapefruit and
he dispelled any myths around coffee
being a cause of cardiac problems.
program that involves exercise for an hour a day
is usually required to gain the measurable kind of
benefit most individuals expect. You do not have
to go all out, of course, but among my Applegate
friends many have found ways to integrate fitness
activities into their daily routines or make them serve
a particular strategic goal: Asher commutes by bike
to Medford from Buncom, Doug swims during his
lunch hour at the YMCA, Leah rises early in the
morning to row with her crew, Donna celebrated
her 60th birthday by hiking 60 miles and then
throwing a party, Janeen leads groups on wilderness
hikes most weekends during the summer, and I
collect firewood and do woodlands management as
cross training for my next triathlon. Biking in the
Applegate off-season is a dream. Aside from Highway
238, there is very little traffic on the roads and the
trail system around Applegate Lake is a year-round
favorite with mountain bikers. The bottom line is
clear, use it or lose.
Harvard’s Dr. Sinclair has started trials of
sirtuin activators that are 1,000 times more potent
than the resveratrol in red wine, and a number of
major drug companies are working on sirtuins on the
belief that they may be highly beneficial with diseases
of aging and the potential market for sirtuin drugs
is likely to be huge. Dr. Fontana noted, however,
that, “According to the World health Organization,
80 percent of heart disease and 40 percent of cancers
could be prevented with a healthy diet and lifestyle.”
Therefore, I would not advise you to wait for the first
generation of sirtuin drugs to save your genes. Drink
and eat modestly, exercise happily, and get outdoors
to experience with gratitude the gift of life and our
closeness to nature. Now that’s an all-Applegate
prescription!
Earl Showerman, M.D. • 541-899-8721
Fun and Games answer:
Hint: If you let X= the number of
birds and
Y=the number of lizards then:
X+Y= the number of heads ( 30 )
and, since each bird has 2 legs
and each lizard has 4 legs: then 2X
+ 4Y = the number of legs ( 70 )
We know then that: X+Y= 30 and
2X+4Y=70 substituting
X=30-Y we get 2( 30-Y ) + 4Y =70
or
60-2Y + 4Y = 70
2Y = 10
the # of lizards = 5
and the # of birds = 25
Try this puzzle on your classmates,
and your math teacher.